Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I know this is a little last minute but I just realized I hadn't yet mentioned Fashion POP here on the HQ blog! Fashion POP is the newly added fashion design competition (this is the second year) component of the POP Montreal music festival, and I'm super excited to be one of the designers competing this year!

Made possible by Le Chateau, this juried show features the work of 6 hand-picked up-and-coming fashion designers, each presenting a 6 look mini-collection to a panel of judges working in the industry. The winner will receive a prize of $1000 as well as a $500 gift certificate from Le Chateau and a feature in Worn Fashion Journal. All attendees will be entered in a raffle for 2 gift certificates of $250 courtesy of Le Chateau as well as 2 subscriptions to Worn Fashion Journal. This event will serve double duty as the launch party for this year's Puces POP!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Thanks to all who emailed me with the answers to our Jim Henson contest. Amanda Moss was the quick draw McGraw! So, she wins a gift certificate and 2 little watercolour drawing of my favorite Jim Henson monsters! If there's one thing Amanda doesn't hesitate on it's shopping, she used the gift cert. to pick up for of the lovely knitted necklaces from Mes Trois Soeurs!

Just a quick reminder that we're hosting another lovely Chatte Bottee vintage shoe party tonight! Come by early to get first pick of the amazing boots Nika and Carole and picked for you ladies, or to scoop up the larger sizes which always seem to go quickly! We've also just received TONS of new NEW fall stock from Valerie Dumaine, La Fete, Anastasia Lomonova and many more!

For any of you who read the blog regularly, you've probably noticed that Tyson has been blogging a LOT more than I have, he's such a good store owner guy! Working on my own line has been taking up more and more of my time, but I'm still trying to pop in here and post as much as I can!

So I thought it was HIGH TIME that I posted about a wonderful new line we're carrying at HQ, called Bettina Lou! Marie-eve (the designer of the line) has been a regular customer at HQ for awhile, and I didn't realize she was also a designer extraordinaire, so when she came in the first day to show me her styles I was so confused, but then very happy when I realized the stylish shopper and designer I'd been chatting with via e-mail were one and the same!Marie-Eve cites her inspirations as having roots in the style icons of the fifties and sixties, visual arts, nice fabrics, vintage fashion magazines, musicals, creative people and girls with great personal style. The Betina Lou style is one that doesn't go out of fashion, they're the staples of your wardrobe! Feminine silhouettes are influenced by the elegance and sobriety brought forth by the great french designers of the middle of the twentieth century.

The best part? The entire collection is designed and manufactured exclusively in Montreal. I can tell you from seeing these clothes up close and personal, the quality is AMAZING, Marie-Eve knows her stuff! After working with Soia & Kyo and Mackage over the past few years, Marie-Eve has really honed her skills and is producing some really precise pieces, so when she says the designs will last, you'll know that the quality will be right there along with it, allowing these pieces to be staples of your wardrobe for many years to come!

What's next for Bettina Lou? Stay tuned in my next post, I've got the scoop where you can get your first peek at her fall collection!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sooooo, I haven't really mentioned this on the HQ blog yet, but the thing that's been taking up 95% of my time lately is a project that started about 6 months ago.

I received an e-mail to my Etsy account, that I thought MUST be a joke. It was a message from Topshop, asking me to be one of the designers for an in store pop up shop called EDIT that they launched for the first time last season, and had decided to bring back for another season, this time including accessories as well as clothing.

For those of you not familiar with Topshop, it's a chain of stores based in London (England you silly folks, NOT Ontario!) with the UK flagship store being the Oxford Circus branch, which is where the main EDIT concession will be located, with a small version featuring 3 designers in the New York store which opened last year. Around 25 designers in total from around the world are involved in this edition, and I'm the first Canadian! Some of the other designers include: KTZ, White Trumpet, Nakkna, Diana Orving and so many more, coming from a diverse mix of countries, including Sweden, Hong Kong, Germany, the UK, the US, Iceland, Italy, etc, etc, etc...

So I received that initial e-mail, started hyperventilating, called Tyson and screamed for a bit and then wrote them back and said yes. After going back and forth for a few months we decided that my grouping would include the following:

- Fringe necklaces in 4 colours (including a new grey/black/white combo exclusive to Topshop)- Feather necklaces in 2 colours- Leather cage skirts in 3 colours exclusive to Topshop. The leather cage skirt is my collaboration with Marc Simard of Broundoor and for those of you who know Marc and also have been to a Topshop you will appreciate the awesomeness that is the thought of Marc Simard in Topshop.- Panelled leggings in 5 colours, all brand new for Topshop!- "Road Warrior" elastic harness in black, but also in an exclusive pearly fringe version!- A brand spanking new panelled t-shirt design in black and white

Sooooo, if there are any of you out there who's been disappointed with me for not coming to a party/event, not e-mailing back quickly or not calling you back at all, this is why! Blame Topshop! The first grouping of the concession is available NOW! My stuff is in the second grouping, from Oct. 25 right up until Christmas, so if you're in London, get down there ASAP, these clothes are just too good to pass up!

Another exciting aspect of this project is that I was finally able to work with the amazing Paule Trudel, an illustrator from our own fair city of Montreal who recently graduated from school in New York. She contacted me shortly before Topshop did, saying that we should do a project together. When the Topshop thing came up, I knew she would be the perfect person to do illustrated custom hangtags to go on all my designs. They've just been sent to print now, I'll keep you all updated when they arrive and do a whole post on the lovely Paule Trudel so you all can love her work as much as I do!

Obviously I could not miss this opportunity to see my designs hanging in a major UK store, so Tyson and I have decided to take our FIRST vacation together (Wpg doesn't count) and head over to London at the end of October. It will be my 5th time there and Tysons first, so if you have any suggestions for us throw them in the comments, we'll be there for 8 days, so we'll have lots of time to check out many, many awesome things!

Well, it's September 24th and that means it's Jim Henson's birthday! He would have been 73 today... if he er, wasn't a corpse. Which is a pretty big bummer because not only was he the guy behind The Muppets, The Dark Crystal, Sesame Street, The creatures in Return of the Jedi and Fraggle Rock but the guy was a super solid dude....unlike some of the creators of other childhood favorite characters, who were complete pricks and will remain nameless (fuck you mickey).

He was awrded the "Courage of Conscience" award back in 1992 (two years after his death) for being a "Humanitarian, muppeteer, producer and director of films for children that encourage tolerance, interracial values, equality and fair play."

Just try to read the details about his death and funeral (from his Wiki page) and try not to get choked up... seriously, I read this a few months ago and was crying like a baby...

So to honour the creative genius of Mr. Henson I'm giving away 3 small watercolour drawings based on my favorite Henson Monsters and a gift certificate for $25. here at HQ.

The first person to email me the names of the following characters wins:

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

This Friday, September 25th, the ladies from La Chatte Bottee are having another ginormous boot sale here at HQ. Come down from 6pm-9pm for a free cocktail and check out hundreds of pairs of boots and shoes. It's cash only, so make sure you hit an ATM on your way down.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Old chum and Montreal artists, Jen Storey has her website up now. If you are unfamiliar with her work, she does amazing woodcut prints on Japanese paper. Her style has a fairytale like quality to it that is dreamy and creepy at the same time.

Another thing about Jen is every time she gets a cold, I get it a week or so after. Even if I don't see her! I mean, what gives, man? I have a feeling she sneaks into my house and uses my toothbrush. That is so like her!

Anyway, go here to see more of her awesome work and possibly catch a cold:

Friday, September 11, 2009

Our pals at www.furnicreations.com got together with www.wearecontributors.comto bring you "Smile On Your Brother" a touring group exhibit featuring work on old school banana boards. All the work is being auctioned off for charity online here and a full list of the artists with bio's and links can be found here.

In case you can't read the info on the board above...

About the show Conceived by Mike Giles and Annie Lam and co-curated by Bob Kronbauer of www.clubmumble.com fame, "Smile On Your Brother" , is an art show centered around the original shape of skateboards when they first hit mass production. This seemed the perfect canvas to launch the contributor campaign.

The idea behind not only the show, but also overall project is to hopefully inspire people to think about their first skateboard and what it meant to them. For many skaters, this still represents a pivotal moment in their lives, with every last little detail, fresh in their minds. Bringing together contemporary artists both in, and affected by the skateboard industry to help raise funds to go towards the first goal of Contributor which is to donate 100 skateboards to disadvantaged youth across Canada in 2009/2010

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

A few weeks ago now a lovely lady name Tara came up to Montreal from New York on a family trip. Tara also happened to be the video editor for Etsy, and contacted me about doing a little Norwegian Wood video, and this is what came of that fun day of trying on clothes at HQ and getting a little silly, as you can see in the video....

A huge thanks to Tara (aka Weirdwolf on Etsy), the wonderful Montreal band Chinatown for letting us use their music, and to my amazing intern Lara for being in the shoot with me! Check out Laras Etsy shop at www.lalouka.etsy.com and keep an eye out for her (and us of course) at this years Puces POP!

BFF

BFF

To celebrate the 50 + exhibitions we’ve curated in the past 5 years, Headquarters is proud to present “BFF” (Best Friends Forever). A retrospective look at all the amazing work and incredible talent that’s been showcased on our walls.

We’d love to see all the friends of HQ, both new and old, come out for our final exhibition before HQ closes it’s doors. Owners Tyson Bodnarchuk and Angie Johnson are moving on to new exciting projects, but would love to see you all for one last hurrah. All are welcome for an amazing night of art, music, drinks and good times!

This may be your last chance to check out some of the incredible work by artists from around the globe, so be sure to get here early before your favourite pieces get snatched up!

About Tyson & Angie

They're a couple of crafty people living in Montreal,, running this little boutique/gallery, making stuff, and working with amazing artists & designers. Tyson makes art and handpainted vintage shoes and purses under his own name, while Angie makes a whole junkload of stuff under the name Norwegian Wood. They also have 2 dogs named Spidey and Mary.

Vintage Headquarters

Tyson Bodnarchuk

Norwegian Wood

Submission Info

All artists/designers interested in submitting their art/designs to HQ should contact us by e-mail with the following info:

- JPG images of their work- a brief bio- contact info

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! contact us via e-mail, as many of you have probably noticed it's basically just Tyson and myself (Angie) doing everything at HQ, so we don't have a ton of time at the store to properly look over peoples work on the spot. If you bring your samples/art down to the store without an appointment I can pretty much guarantee we will not have time to give you our full attention, which you truly deserve. Tyson barely has time to take a pee some days (he complains about this ALL the time...)

We're excited to see all the awesome stuff all y'all are working on, but e-mail is really the best way!

Thanks!xoxoAngie & Tyson

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If you see something on the site that you'd like to buy, don't be afraid to shoot us an e-mail. We'll be happy to let you know all the details about pricing, shipping info, etc.We accept payment by credit card or Paypal.

We're working on getting a real online shopping thing going, but in the meantime let us know what you need and we'll make it happen! We also both opened up Etsy stores, yay! What's Etsy you may ask? Click on this link to find out, or click on either of our mini shops below.